Elliot Denies Violence Plot as Group Alleges Surulere APC Primary Disruption

A political pressure group, the Surulere Accountability Front (SAF), has alleged a plot by the lawmaker representing Surulere Constituency I in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Desmond Elliot, to cause chaos during Wednesday’s All Progressives Congress assembly primaries in the constituency. The group, in a statement by its Chairman, Mr Olanrewaju Badmus, alleged that Elliot had brought non-residents into the constituency to disrupt the exercise across the six wards where voting would take place. According to the group, the alleged plan is to use violence and gunshots to scare away genuine voters and force the primary election into an inconclusive outcome. Badmus stated: “We have confirmed information that Desmond Elliot has flooded Surulere 1 with non-Surulere people ahead of the primaries across all six wards where voting will take place. They allegedly plan to use gunshots to scare voters away and let the primary election become inconclusive, believing he will then be called for negotiation.”

The group’s leader further alleged that some of the individuals brought into the area were being accommodated in hotels, church halls, mosque halls, an OPC office in Ward G, and market spaces within the constituency. He said that some youths in the area had earlier chased out suspected outsiders from Lawanson Market and urged party members and residents to remain vigilant during the exercise. “We will not negotiate our representation with someone who has shown desperation, greed, disrespect for the organised Tinubu political structure in Lagos and lust for power,” the statement read. The group declared its support for the party’s gender inclusion policy and endorsed Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, a former Special Adviser on Housing to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for the APC ticket in the constituency. The Surulere Accountability Front also warned contestants against violence and disruption in the primary election, urging party members to remain calm, vigilant, and peaceful throughout the exercise across the six wards in the constituency. It appealed to eligible voters to mobilise massively and participate peacefully in the primary election and urged party members to cooperate with security agencies and party officials to ensure a credible and orderly process.

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However, a source within Elliot’s camp described the allegation as laughable, saying his opponent and her supporters “are only jittery of the lawmaker’s popularity.” The source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The allegation is a figment of their imagination. They are jittery because they know Elliot will defeat them. We are for free and fair elections, and we will surely win in a free and fair contest.” Elliot himself has insisted that no party leader, including the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, had asked him to step down from the race. Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, the actor-turned-politician said he remained committed to the primary process. “Because I was not asked by him, my leader (Gbajabiamila), never,” Elliot said. “Even the day I declared, I flew to Abuja to see him again to tell him, ‘Oga’, which is how I call him, ‘Oga, I am here again.’ But at the end of the day, I am here to also serve the people. I do have the leadership, I do have the people. So, the President has said, let the people decide. If they want you to continue, you continue.” Elliot has also alleged that members of his political camp in Surulere were facing intimidation ahead of the primary election. He claimed that some local government officials allegedly lost their positions because of their support for him. “We are being intimidated in Surulere. If you know you are popular on the ground, do not intimidate the people,” he said. The lawmaker also alleged that he was being called names simply because he decided to contest again. “The truth is, I am not a cultist. I have never been a cultist. I am not a thug. I have never been. My record, my eight years, is open. I have not created any problem for anybody,” Elliot stated.

The lawmaker, who has represented Surulere Constituency I since 2015, explained why he is seeking a fourth term, saying his ambition was driven by the possibility of becoming a principal officer in the Assembly. Addressing his constituents during a campaign on Friday, Elliot urged his supporters not to bow to intimidation from rival camps. “The question is, ‘what am I looking for in the fourth term that I am being intimidated to step down?’ Don’t accept it, you have invested so much in me. There is a high chance that I will become a principal officer. On the 21st of May, stand your ground, come out in your large numbers to vote for me, and I will emerge victorious,” he said. Elliot, who quoted Psalm 121 during the campaign, said he was confident God would help him overcome the internal contest. “One with God is the majority,” he stated.

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Earlier on Friday, Elliot publicly apologised to Femi Gbajabiamila, whom he described as his political mentor. Speaking on TVC’s Your View, the lawmaker said any misunderstanding between them was unintentional and insisted he remained committed to party unity. “I know media will come out and say eh, Desmond begs again. Yes, because he’s my egbon, and I grew up learning everything I know in politics through him. So, some of these things were not intentional,” he said. “He might be upset for something or whatever it was. I’m human, and to err is human, to forgive is divine. So, I’m sorry, my daddy, if I have offended you in any way. Give me another chance so we can move on and bring development and dividends of democracy to the people,” Elliot said. The apology followed previous tensions linked to the Lagos Assembly leadership crisis, during which Gbajabiamila said President Bola Tinubu confronted him over intelligence reports alleging Elliot’s involvement in the speakership tussle, a claim Elliot has consistently denied.

Meanwhile, Elliot has explained why he signed the impeachment notice against the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, during the January 2025 leadership crisis in the Assembly. Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, the actor-turned-politician said he was outside the country when the impeachment took place. The majority of lawmakers in the Lagos Assembly, on January 13, 2025, voted to remove Obasa as Speaker while he was reportedly on vacation in the United States. “I would like to state categorically that I wasn’t in the country. My wife and I travelled during the period of January 13th of 2025. We were in recess and then it was an opportunity for us to travel to attend my wife’s younger sister’s wedding,” he said. According to Elliot, he was in South Africa when news of Obasa’s impeachment broke. “That was the time Mr Mudashiru Obasa was impeached by Lagos State House of Assembly.

It came to me as a shock because I was in South Africa then. So, obviously, it took me about two days to come back. I was also as confused as everybody was.” The lawmaker disclosed that he appended his signature to the impeachment document because he believed the move had the backing of the presidency. “And then I saw that almost everybody had signed. And pretty much, we thought it was from the presidency. In all fairness, we thought it was from the presidency. And, of course, I appended my own signature. I believe I was maybe a 30-something person at that point in time because others who had travelled had returned and others who signed.” Elliot said lawmakers later received clarification from President Bola Tinubu that the impeachment was not authorised by him. “But eventually, Mr President called us and made us understand that it was not from him and asked us to return the speaker. And we did,” he added.

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Elliot’s remarks came in response to claims by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, who alleged that intelligence reports linked him to the impeachment attempt and that the situation nearly cost him his position. Gbajabiamila made the disclosure during an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos last Thursday, where he recounted how the political turmoil surrounding Obasa’s removal in January 2025 almost created a rift between him and President Tinubu. “I almost lost my job as chief of staff last year because of Desmond Elliot. He’s alive today; you can go and verify with him,” Gbajabiamila said. According to him, Tinubu summoned him to Abuja during the crisis and specifically mentioned Desmond Elliot among lawmakers allegedly involved in the impeachment plot. The former Speaker of the House of Representatives said he initially defended Elliot before later reaching out to him directly after meeting with the president. According to him, he cautioned the Surulere Constituency I lawmaker to distance himself from the impeachment move if he was involved. Gbajabiamila disclosed that three days later, the Director-General of the Department of State Services contacted him over claims that he was backing Elliot in the crisis rocking the Lagos Assembly. “Of course, the president will not believe that Desmond will do such a thing, and I don’t know about it,” he stated. He said he again urged Elliot to publicly dissociate himself from the impeachment plot, but the lawmaker allegedly refused to do so. “If it were not that I had the kind of relationship I had with the president, I wouldn’t be here today,” Gbajabiamila added.

Reacting to Gbajabiamila’s accusation, Elliot said he was surprised by the comment, considering their longstanding political relationship. “So, my leader (Gbajabiamila) coming to say this, that I almost lost his job, one I have served and has also been there for me for this long, to have said that came to me as a shock,” he said. “I did not mastermind anything. I had nothing at all. The only thing I did was to append my signature when I came back and I saw a bunch of us, if not all of us, had already appended a signature to say, ‘Oh, it was the party who wanted it.'” Elliot also addressed reports that the APC leadership is backing Barakat Odunuga-Bakare to replace him. Despite the speculation, he said no party leader, including Gbajabiamila, had asked him to step down from the race ahead of the party primaries. He reaffirmed his commitment to a free and fair primary election, stating: “If I lose, I will throw my support behind the winner. But please let it be under a free and fair election. By the grace of God, if I win, Alhamdulillah.”

Mudashiru Obasa was impeached on January 13, 2025, following allegations of abuse of office and gross misconduct levelled against him by lawmakers in the Lagos Assembly. Following his removal, then-Deputy Speaker Mojisola Meranda emerged as Speaker, becoming the first woman to occupy the position in Lagos State. However, Obasa rejected the impeachment upon his return to Nigeria and challenged the decision in court. After spending 49 days in office, Meranda stepped down and Obasa was reinstated as Speaker following the intervention of President Tinubu. A court subsequently nullified the proceedings and resolutions of the Assembly that led to Obasa’s impeachment.

Elliot Denies Violence Plot as Group Alleges Surulere APC Primary Disruption